


Close

by Burgie



Category: Star Stable Online
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-19
Updated: 2018-02-19
Packaged: 2019-03-21 06:39:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,750
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13735269
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Burgie/pseuds/Burgie
Summary: Alex learns that Anne has been found. Based on the end of the 'Justin gets arrested' quest.





	Close

“There’s a portal that can take you right to her doorstep!” Fripp’s words were still ringing in Alex’s ears, even after he’d gone on to say that Avalon needed to find the keystone to get to Dino Valley first in order to get the keystone from Magnus that would take them to Pandoria. But Alex didn’t care about the details. They were so close right now, closer than they’d ever been to rescuing Anne. Alex felt as though she was vibrating with excitement, energy coursing through her veins. Next week, she could have Anne in her arms again. In Jorvik again. She’d have her girlfriend here with her after so long, and that thought brought tears of happiness to her eyes. She dismounted Tin Can, getting to her knees in front of the squirrel and putting her hands on his shoulders.

“Really?” asked Alex, her heart pounding and her hands shaking. He was just a blurred blue shape in front of her, with the pink stars around him seeming like an aura.

“Indeed, young Alex,” said Fripp with a nod. “Soon, we will have your Anne back, and all will be as it should be.” Alex grinned and gave a laugh of pure happiness, jumping to her feet as energy surged through her. She felt like dancing, like celebrating, like screaming from the rooftops that her Anne was alive and well and that she’d be home very soon.

“Finally!” Alex cheered, punching the air. “Aw man, it feels so good to finally be so close to finding her and bringing her home to me at last.”

“I told you where she was over a year ago and you didn’t celebrate like this,” said Lisa with a roll of her eyes, folding her arms in front of her chest. Starshine gave a shake of his head in agreement, pawing at the ground.

“Yeah, but that just told us vaguely where she was,” said Alex. “Pandoria is a very big place. But Fripp has pinpointed exactly where she is, which is exactly what I need to know.”

“Yeah, now we can go and find Anne and rescue her,” said Linda, smiling. “Simple.”

“It just still feels so unreal,” said Alex. “She’s basically within arm’s reach. I hope I don’t look too different to how I did last time she saw me.”

“Well, you’ve gotten more muscular,” said Lisa. “From working so hard, no doubt. And then there’s the obvious change in your attire and hair colour.”

“Yeah, that minor detail,” said Alex, twirling a lock of her fading blue and white hair around her finger. It looked absolutely terrible, the blonde having grown back in while Alex had been too busy throwing herself into her druid duties and helping her mother, but it suited her.

“Speaking from experience, I think that she’ll just be so glad to see you that she won’t even notice what you look like,” said Louisa, who had been unusually quiet while Alex had been celebrating. She didn’t look exactly happy, either, a slight frown creasing her brows.

“Yeah, and she’ll still recognise you,” said Lisa. She gave her friend a smile. “Don’t worry, I’m sure that your reunion will go smoothly, and it’ll be full of the intense love that you two always seem to have.”

“Yeah, even when we were in high school,” said Linda, wrinkling her nose, though she smiled good-naturedly. “The amount of snogging those two did, you’d think they had iron lungs.”

“Well, I’ve never seen you worry about your appearance before, Alex,” said Louisa. “I guess that’s your girlfriend’s influence, huh?”

“Obviously,” said Alex, blushing. “I just wanna look good for her, you know? I mean, she always looks good.”

“That’s understandable,” said Louisa, and her smile was genuine this time.

“So, what’s up with you?” asked Alex, turning her full attention to Louisa. “You’re normally our biggest fan, I thought you’d be celebrating as much as me.”

“I can’t say right here,” said Louisa, glancing at Fripp. Alex saw the glance and nodded, understanding.

“Right,” said Alex. Her friend’s mistrust of Fripp was no secret, except to the druids, of course. “We’ll meet up at the manor?” Louisa shook her head as she led the way towards the portal.

“Herman’s house,” said Louisa once they were on the other side of the portal. “It’s- ohh dear.”

“What?” asked Alex, and looked up at the sky. The purple sky. “Oh. Well, that’s different.”

“Must be a pretty big omen if all of you can see it too,” said Linda. She shivered slightly.   
“That’s freaky.”

“No kidding,” said Alex. “What does it mean, Lin?”

“I’ll have to look into it,” said Linda, gazing around at the purple haze that covered everything. “But something tells me that it’s a sign that we’re about to go to Pandoria.”

“Or a warning of the end times,” said Lisa, shivering. Louisa moved closer to her, as close as she could get without tangling Goldmist and Starshine together.

“No, those warnings are usually more ominous,” said Linda. “This doesn’t feel ominous to me. Weird, but not bad. Not like that vision I had of you at the oil rig, Louisa.”

“Good,” said Louisa. “Because it’s actually kinda pretty.”

“It is,” said Lisa. The four of them stared up at the sky for a few more moments, until the spiral path began to become a little crowded with people heading up to the Secret Stone Circle.

“So, Herman’s?” asked Alex as the four of them rode away.

“Yeah, he’s got it soundproofed and everything,” said Louisa, leading the way to the Harvest Counties. “It’s safer there.”

“Y’know, sometimes I worry about your mistrust of Fripp,” said Lisa. “But other times, I agree with you.”

“We’ll talk more when we get there,” said Louisa, and urged Goldie into a gallop.

In Herman’s house, the four of them gathered around the kitchen table, where Louisa had put the electric kettle on to boil so as to disrupt any potential spies. After making cups of tea for all of them, of course.

“Alright, what’s on your mind?” asked Alex, sitting across from Louisa. Louisa drummed her fingers on the table for a moment before taking a deep breath and speaking.

“It just seems odd to me that Fripp announced that he’d discovered a way to get to Anne right after he arrested Justin,” said Louisa. “Doesn’t it seem odd to you?”

“When you put it like that, it does,” said Linda, wrapping her fingers around a mug of tea. “Almost like he was trying to distract us with news about Anne.”

“Exactly,” said Louisa, nodding. 

“What, so you think that he was lying about saving Anne?” asked Alex, her eyes sparking with anger.

“No, I think he was telling the truth,” said Louisa. “But he could’ve told us that at any time, couldn’t he? He could’ve told us before he had us go fetch Justin, or he could’ve waited a day. But he didn’t.”

“Hmm,” Lisa hummed thoughtfully, frowning. “You might just be onto something. We were all pretty annoyed at him for arresting Justin, but we quickly changed our minds when he mentioned Anne.”

“Huh,” said Alex. “I never thought of it like that. I know that Anne will be pretty pissed at being used like that, though. But is that really why you seemed so down earlier?”

“No, I’m upset because one of my friends is dating Justin and another is his really close friend,” said Louisa. “And he just got taken from them right after being rescued. Not to mention Justin’s mental state.”

“Sorry,” said Alex, her excitement dampened by that knowledge.

“No, don’t be,” said Louisa. “It’s fine. You have every right to be excited that we’re finally going to rescue the love of your life.” Alex smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes as much as it had before.

“Well then, after we rescue Anne, you guys can go rescue Justin,” said Alex. “I’ll help out a bit if I can.”

“Thank you,” said Louisa, smiling gratefully at her across the table. “I’m sure that Z and Eden will appreciate it. And Thomas. And Justin himself.”

“But Anne first,” said Alex. “I wish you guys hadn’t decided to go rescue Justin first.”

“Well, sorry I had a vision that Justin was in grave danger,” said Linda. 

“We tried to call you for your input,” said Lisa.

Alex rolled her eyes but smiled, her old spark returning to her again. She bounced her knees under the table.

“I’m glad I gave you decaf,” said Louisa, smiling as she sipped at her tea. “You’re already bouncing off the walls as it is.”

“Well, can you blame me? I feel like a kid on Christmas,” said Alex, grinning. “I’m so close that I can almost smell her perfume.”

“I’m telling you, you’re going to get sick of them once they get going,” said Lisa. Louisa smirked.

“I won’t hold their mushiness against them,” said Louisa. “Besides, they can’t be as bad as Karl and Courtney.”

“Yeah, they’re not that bad,” Lisa conceded. “Still sickening, though.”

“And while you guys go trying to break Justin out of prison, I’ll go with my love and search for Concorde,” said Alex.

“An epic quest with the love of your life,” said Louisa with a happy sigh, able to relax now that her friends could see how convenient Fripp’s timing had been in delivering the news about Anne.

“God, don’t give her ideas,” said Lisa, rubbing her temples. 

“Alright then, I’ll tell Thalia next time I’m in Jarlaheim,” said Louisa.

“Good idea,” said Lisa, nodding. “Speaking of, I should catch up with her sometime. We were in drama club together.”

“Well, we’ve got a week free,” said Louisa. “Including me, because you’re going to drag me into Jarlaheim so that I don’t burn myself out training horses again.”

“Break time,” Lisa announced, and, draining her tea, stood, dragging her girlfriend out of the kitchen. Louisa laughed, and Alex smiled as she watched them disappear. Then, her eyes went to Linda.

“I haven’t seen anything about rescuing her, I’m afraid,” said Linda, lowering her eyes. “Sorry.”

“No, it’s fine, you don’t always see the future,” said Alex. “You never saw her getting taken, after all.”

“Fair point,” said Linda, nodding. “Let’s hope for the best, huh?”

“Always,” said Alex, and smiled before she drank the rest of her tea. She was that much closer to reuniting with her lost love, and the feeling was indescribable.


End file.
